Haiti death toll continues to rise, medical group appeals for end to violence

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Jul 13, CMC – The international, independent organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says thousands of people are trapped, without clean water, food or access to medical care, in a neighbourhood of Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, as the death toll from clashes between armed gangs climbed to more than 50.

In an alert, the medical group said thousands of residents of Brooklyn, an isolated neighbourhood of Cité Soleil, have since July 8, when fighting broke out in Cité Soleil, been unable to leave due to violent clashes, and the inability of water trucks carrying drinking water, on which the inhabitants depend, not being able to enter the area.

“We are calling on all belligerents to allow aid to enter Brooklyn and to spare civilians,” said Mumuza Muhindo, MSF head of mission.

“We also call on the humanitarian community to respond to the urgent needs of the population in Brooklyn and other neighbourhoods affected by the fighting, including for water, food and medical care.”

He said three MSF community health workers, who live in Brooklyn, treated the injured in a private clinic which is the only health facility still in operation in the enclave.

“Along the only road into Brooklyn, we have encountered corpses that are decomposing or being burned. They could be people killed during the clashes or people trying to leave who were shot—it is a real battlefield. It is not possible to estimate how many people have been killed,” Muhindo said.

The MSF said it is continuing its attempts to evacuate people with critical medical needs in Brooklyn, while many other residents are also asking for help to leave the area.

The organisation continues to treat victims of violence in other neighbourhoods of Cité Soleil. Staff at MSF’s emergency centre in Drouillard opened an operating theatre within the facility, to begin providing emergency surgical care on site.

“This work was made difficult, in part because of armed clashes in the immediate vicinity, which forced medical personnel to take refuge in a secure room for several hours,” it noted.

Meanwhile, Joël Janéus, the deputy executive agent of Cité Soleil, is revising upwards the death toll as a result of the clashes between the armed gangs.

He said at least 50 have died and at least 100 injured even as the authorities say they are having difficulty confirming those figures.

The deputy mayor in Cite Soleil district of Port-au-Prince, Jean Hislain Frederick, said that the violence began a day after the first anniversary of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Since Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, violence has soared in Haiti as gangs battle over territory, and the government has struggled to crack down.

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